Follow Your Heart rewrite
by YamiHikari2
Summary: ignore the first "{1}" in the 5th chapter as it should be self-explanatory. i'm just a bit too lazy to change it...
1. Default Chapter

Follow Your Heart  
By YamiHikari  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own GW, probably never will. (sobs) All I own here is my writing and my own original character/characters.  
  
Author's Note: I know it's really "Do as your heart tells you", but "Follow your heart" just sounds better to me. I don't know why, but hey! Plus, I like the song "Intuition" by Jewel, and one of the lines is "Just follow your heart, baby". Hahaha... no, this is not based on that song... I just felt like redoing this and I heard that song recently and really really liked it. Okay, I'm done rambling. ... well? Scroll down and read! Um, please. Thank you. Don't mind my little rants.  
  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  
  
She had no more reason to live. There was nothing here to live for. Life is a chain that will only drag you down, and you die anyway. There's not much difference between now and just a little later.  
  
No one would mourn. No one there cared for Tajima Ryuka, last of the humans, loathed by vampires, loup-garou[1], and shape-shifters alike. They'd be pleased by her death. She stood in the center of a locked room, her face, that would be almost delicately pretty in the way of the Easterners[2] but for the gray eyes that could freeze you on the spot if they met yours, blank, devoid of any emotion. Shutting those frigid gray eyes, her arms, sheathed in metal armguards almost as hard as her eyes, rising to place the blades on the guards to either side of her neck. Clenching her teeth, she was about take one last breath and end it all, when a light took her. After it faded, the room was empty.  
  
**********  
  
In a room not only lit by ceiling lights, but also by the soft glow of a computer screen, a Chinese youth of about 18 [3] was practicing his swordsmanship. He brought it downwards in a slashing motion, then whipped it around him in a tight circle, narrowly missing an American of about the same age.  
  
"Hey, watch it! I don't know about everyone else, but I would like to keep my blood under my skin, thank you very much," Duo Maxwell commented as he edged away from Chang Wufei and his blade.  
  
"Are you saying that I don't know how to use a sword?" Wufei demanded, irate.  
  
"No, I'm just saying to wa-" he left his sentence unfinished as light flooded the room, causing him to shield blue-violet eyes. "What the hell is that!?"  
  
Wufei squinted, trying to see what was being concealed by the light. A tall 20 year-old[4] stayed by the wall where he had been prior to the light, emerald eyes narrowed. A shorter blond, about 18 years of age like the other two, took a step back, arm over aquamarine eyes. Only the youth at the computer did nothing, Prussian blue eyes fixed on the laptop's screen.  
  
The light suddenly disappeared, and left behind a girl of about 17, who took a step back and surveyed them like they were the intruders.  
  
"Who the hell are you? Where is this!?" They stared at her, silent. "Tell me!" she shouted, settling into a fighter's crouch. Wufei took this as a signal to attack.  
  
Sparks flew as the girl swiftly parried the sword blade, then hooked one foot around the Chinese boy's leg and brought him to the floor. She drew a knife from a low-slung belt, but was knocked to the floor by a computer chair rolled with considerable force. Heero Yuy stood in the space that had been previously occupied by it, expression unreadable.  
  
"I don't need your help, Heero, to fight this weak onna," Wufei snarled, the menacing effect lost as he lay on the floor making sure nothing was broken.  
  
The dark blue eyes glared at him, then switched their gaze to the girl rising from the floor. "Who are you?"  
  
Standing, her face a set mask to match his own, she suddenly smiled humorlessly. "Spare me the pleasantries. You are dead."  
  
The girl lunged at Heero, only to be brought down by Duo.  
  
"You fight one of us, you fight us all," he grinned.  
  
Heero stepped forward. "Let her go, Duo. I can handle my own fights."  
  
The American looked doubtful. "If you say s- HEY!"  
  
They had abruptly switched positions. Duo was now the one who was pinned on the floor, and a punch to his solar plexus[5] ensured that he would stay there. He wheezed on the floor, trying to catch his breath, as she lunged at Heero, roughly elbowing Quatre out of the way, slicing him in the shoulder with an armguard blade as she did so. A fist came up and out into her stomach, and she hit the ground and rolled, gasping. Trowa drew his arm back, and waited for another attack. A quiet, ominous click caught her attention as she rose again.  
  
"You're fast. But tell me, what's faster, a bullet or you?"  
  
"I am." She had him feeling like he was pinned to the wall with her cold, level gaze.  
  
He fired.  
  
She didn't blink as the bullet whistled past her ear and buried itself in the wall behind her.  
  
Without any known means of communication, the young men in the room formed a loose ring around her, Quatre holding his left shoulder tightly to try and staunch the flow of blood. Part of his shirt was already soaked in the precious fluid.  
  
Abruptly, the blade disappeared into the armguard with the ring on metal on metal[6].  
  
Tajima didn't know why, but she was loath to kill any one of them. There was something clear at her back, something that let the scant daylight filter into the room. It appeared delicate, and she took note of the frames that supported each square of the clear material. Backing up, as if retreating, she suddenly clenched her right hand around the slender metal rod that ran over her palm, causing the blade to spring out again, and sliced the window into quarters diagonally. Pushing off from the floor with her left foot, she slammed into and out the window, hitting it with her shoulder and fell out in a glittering shower that caught the last light of the dying sun, and a few choice pieces gleamed with the wet shine of fresh blood.  
  
Hand still clenched and weapon still out, she jammed the blade into the trunk of a nearby tree to stop or at least slow her plunge. An abrupt flare of pain that shot up her arm from her shoulder informed her that it hadn't been the most intelligent move in the world, but it had been an effective one. The keen edge cut through the wood quickly, but with some resistance, which did slow her down, and she would have fewer injuries than anticipated.  
  
Bleeding from shallow cuts on the right side of her face and neck, she looked down, then kicked off the trunk of the tree. There was the short yet exhilarating sensation of free-fall, then the solid feeling of an abrupt landing. Without looking behind her, Tajima ran.  
  
"Lady, some crazy person just tried to break into the house and we got someone hurt real bad here. ... That long? Damn... just tell'em to hurry, 'kay? ... Location is the Winner residence... yah, I know you know where that is, every blockhead in town knows where it is! Just send the ambulance already!" Duo slammed the phone down, on edge from worry for his friend and with impatience to go out and do something about what had happened.  
  
"Five minutes, guys. You think he can hang on that long?"  
  
"I think I can," Quatre insisted softly. He clenched his shoulder harder and winced, though he didn't let go. The bleeding had to stop.  
  
"Move him downstairs. It'll be faster that way." Trowa stooped, and began to lift the blond gently.  
  
As Duo and Wufei moved to help, the American stopped, and turn to Heero, standing alone in front of the broken window, staring into the space where the glass had been.  
  
"Hey."  
  
"I've seen her eyes before," was all that the pilot of Wing Zero said before walking away from the window and assisting the others in moving Quatre downstairs where access to the front door and the ambulance that would soon arrive would be quick and easy.  
  
She ran on, the approaching darkness and cold, her bewilderment at being in a strange place, and low energy level acting together to make her visually impaired and clumsy. After just barely avoiding further injuries by running into branches or tripping over roots about five times, she stopped, breathing hard, and finally looked back.  
  
She swore under her breath. Footprints. Why didn't she think of that earlier. Footprints! Damn it all. Leaning against the hard, rough bark of a tree, Tajima berated herself. FOOTPRINTS.  
  
Two more minutes. Quatre spoke up suddenly, his voice tired and soft. "After the ambulance comes, I want you to look for her."  
  
"Hell, no," Duo snapped, finally able to express the stress he was feeling in some small way.  
  
"Our land is too large." The head of the Winner household paused for a labored breath. "She can't get out unless she gets extremely lucky, which I doubt. Even if I die, I want to prevent others from doing so if there is a way to stop it."  
  
"What if we die while looking for her? She could just sneak up behind us and slit our throats, you know!" Duo argued, not giving up.  
  
Quatre smiled, eyes closed. "I trust..."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?! Hey, are you listening to me!? Dammit, don't you think of dying before the ambulance gets here! Hey! HEY! QUATRE, ANSWER ME, YOU LITTLE-"  
  
"Duo."  
  
"NOW WHAT?!" he nearly screamed in response.  
  
"Shut up and go answer the door. The paramedics are here," Wufei replied caustically.  
  
Hands clinging desperately to the rough bark, Tajima refused to give in to the gentle, seductive call of sleep. If she fell, it would be over. Even if there was some way to survive, there would still be serious wounds, and it wouldn't be easy to recover out in this forest.  
  
The cold winds blew around her, higher up and more vulnerable. They leeched the warmth from her body, sapped her strength. Trying so hard to ignore them, Tajima tensed, then sprang from the branch to another tree, latching onto a branch, then pulling herself up and perching precariously on it.  
  
It would be so much better if she could just close her eyes for an instant, the treacherous winds whispered. Just for one second.  
  
She tried. She tried to resist their call. But despite herself, her eyes closed and she fell.  
  
Not feeling anything, just a sense of peace and weightlessness, her body slammed into a tree branch, snapping it off. As if in retaliation, it gouged strips out of the vulnerable back, and another branch nearly embedded itself into her arm. But there was no pain. Even when she landed with a sickening thud on the hard, cold ground, there was no pain.  
  
Armed with flashlights and numerous weapons, the search party spread out into the forest. Duo was still grousing.  
  
"What if we get lost? Then what's the point of even looking?! How did I get into this?" "Duo."  
  
"That's the second time in four minutes that someone's said my name. What, are you going to tell me to shut up too?"  
  
"Go that way," a beam of light briefly indicated the direction, "and don't forget to use the trail markers."  
  
"Aye aye, captain," he mumbled before trudging off.  
  
Heero directed the others in a similar way before going off in his own direction. There was no moon, and there were no stars.  
  
Somewhere in the forest, a lone wolf called.  
  
Somewhere in the forest, blood seeped into the dirt.  
  
Up in the sky, snow began to fall.  
  
- - - - - - - - - -  
  
[1] Loup-garou is another term for werewolves that I got out of Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause.  
  
[2] By Easterners, I mean Asians, so Tajima looks Asian.  
  
[3] This story happens after Endless Waltz, like around two years, so that's why they're all different ages than what you may be used to.  
  
[4] On a couple sites I've seen, Trowa is older than the other pilots by about a year or two.  
  
[5] When hit on the solar plexus, around right above your stomach, you get the wind knocked out of you and it feels like you can't breathe, and it is not fun.  
  
[6] I redesigned the armor, and especially the weapons, after I read Jing: King of Bandits, written and illustrated by Yuichi Kumakura. (I love it, I love it, I love it!) Jing's "sword" is in reality a blade that slides out whenever he needs it, and it is part of an almost an armguard, but more like an archer's armguard that the one that I have designed, a.k.a. it only covers the top part of his arm, but not the underside. It kind of straps on, but I wanted Tajima's to be metal that circled around entire forearm. Well, it allows movement, but I can't really explain it without pictures or a really good dictionary and a lot of time. Still cool though. And I think that I will keep them poisoned.  
  
Author's Note- Um, not much to say. Hehe... hmm... I'll just repeat what I said before about Tajima reminding me of Turquoise in Midnight Predator by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. Oh yeah, and I find it amusing that if you changed one letter in her name (Tajima's, I mean), it becomes part of Relena's seiyuu's name, or Yajima. Strange, no? But highly amusing. 


	2. Follow Your Heart rewrite, Chapter 2 ah,...

Follow Your Heart:  
chapter two  
By YamiHikari  
  
Disclaimer- Don't own Gundam Wing or its characters, but Tajima Ryuka is my original character, so don't make me chase you around with Mace if I find out you stole her without my permission.  
  
Author's Note- I should probably just change Author to Authoress or something. Author is so... sexist... very sad news. I got my SAT scores in, and they're lower than what they were last year, so no laptop... boohoo... I'm using Dad's though, so that's just as good! ^__^ it was only down by thirty. Stinking. Points. It was the verbal. I got the exact same score on math. Now that I've bored you all with my trivial little bit of news, here's the next chapter. Yay!  
  
- - - - - - - - - -  
  
It was like a dream, but so cold. You shouldn't feel anything in your dreams...  
  
'That's right. You shouldn't.' One gentle hand caressed her face, lovingly, carefully.  
  
'Aiden...'  
  
But he got up and left.  
  
'Why?'  
  
'You know why. But I still love you.' He smiled, and walked away.  
  
She wandered a place without color, only gray. He had taken all the color away with him. It was still cold. She hurt.  
  
A monster descended upon her, breathed its rank breath on her, then suddenly, viciously swatted her away. She hit a wall, and coughed up gray blood.  
  
And then she fell through the wall. A cage formed around her, patches of lighter shades showing through some.  
  
-What's this made of?- she thought. Her eyes blurred the picture; it fuzzed in and out again.  
  
-What's it made of?- she cried. Then she saw.  
  
-God, no!-  
  
Just one long shrill scream in the silence of the gray. Denial. Denial. Denial.  
  
Blood covered her whole body.  
  
Somewhere in the forest, a bear sniffed curiously at what seemed a free meal.  
  
The snow still fell.  
  
Heero still walked, still searched, and still wondered. Who did she remind him of and why? Above all, why was it now so important to him to find her?  
  
A deeper sense of urgency pulled at him, drew him deeper into the dark trees.  
  
White bone, ragged flesh, red blood, pleading eyes. No. No. No! The foul stench of carrion. The gruesome swarms of maggots. -NO! IT'S NOT TRUE! IT'S NOT TRUE!-  
  
The communication device buzzed. "Haven't found anything yet," Duo's voice crackled.  
  
"Ditto."  
  
"Same."  
  
"Keep looking."  
  
He still heard them, though they were silent. It was insane to do this. Just leave her. Don't risk your life for someone else that you don't know. Yet...  
  
His hand went to the pewter bracelet[1] on his right wrist. 'COMMUNICATE' it proclaimed in engraved letters, a cross taking the place of the 'T'. He kept walking and looking.  
  
One white hand reached in, touched her cheek. She grabbed it. –It's not true! You're not dead!-  
  
It jerked her chin up, another hand reached in, yanked her head back by mid-neck length hair, and it whispered, -But, love, it is[2].- And laughed as she screamed louder.  
  
It crackled again. "Hey, we're heading back. You'd better too. The news said something about a blizzard."  
  
"Yeah, okay." He didn't really hear him, just kept looking. And looking. Then frowned. Something was moving.  
  
Fighting it. –KILLER! MURDERER! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!- Biting, scratching, clawing. Her weapons were gone. She kicked him. –GET AWAY FROM ME! I'LL KILL YOU!-  
  
It still just laughed, pale as the bones around her.  
  
It was a bear.  
  
'Of all the things...' Heero groaned mentally. Bears were not easy to get rid of. Worse, it was probably hungry, and wouldn't be scared off easily. He drew his gun, just in case.  
  
It froze. Then it swiveled down to hiss poisonous words in her face, for them to fill her ears. –Treachery, love, treachery! You were why they're dead, love. You were why.-  
  
-No. No. I still am. I'm not a was. I didn't kill them. Liar.-  
  
-But love, you are the liar.-  
  
-NO!-  
  
A sudden blast shattered the gray landscape and she fell. It took wing and flew away, still hissing, -Lies, love! Treachery, love!-  
  
Still falling, she wanted to cry out for someone to help her. But she would not. Not while that thing was still there.  
  
"GET OUT OF HERE! BEFORE I SHOOT YOU, YOU STUPID ANIMAL!"  
  
The bear eyed him, then returned to hunting in the snow.  
  
"HEY! MOVE!" He fired into the air again.  
  
This time, it ignored him completely.  
  
'You're not giving me much choice in this, are you?' he thought grimly. 'I didn't want to do this...'  
  
He brought the gun down and aimed it directly at the bear's head. "One last chance. That's all you get."  
  
It raised its head and sniffed at him, still unalarmed. He fired once, twice, thrice, and it dropped, red blood staining the new snow.  
  
A new shape. It was chased away by the new winged creature, and she shouted at last. –Save me! Please save me!-  
  
The winged one paused, then dove down, plummeting towards her. She smelled blood again, but fainter. –Save me as well - it replied. –Save me, and I will save you.-  
  
Its wings were strange, one blacker than a starless night and that of a dragon, and the other the pure white wing like that of a angel, but the tips of the feathers were drenched with blood.  
  
So that's where I smelled it...  
  
-Yes. Yes. Just don't let me fall.-  
  
Tears. Whose? She knew something was waiting down there. Something bad. –Don't let me fall.-  
  
He caught her hand. She fell no further and was drawn back up with each beat of his mismatched wings.  
  
Heero brushed aside the snow where the bear had been investigating. There. Pale face, lips starting to turn blue, but she was there. Trying to gently pull her up by the arm, he suddenly stopped as he saw the angle the limb was bent at and how part of her rib cage looked dented. If there were any other injuries, he didn't want to see them.  
  
He couldn't set her arm because of the armor, and rib cages weren't something that you could fix with bare hands. Instead, the former pilot put one arm around her back, grimaced slightly when he felt the warm stickiness there, and another underneath her legs, below the knee. Heero tried to position her so that as much of her body was protected by his open coat as possible, then turned around and started to walk back.  
  
He prayed she wouldn't die as he tried to save her.  
  
The three remaining former pilots watched out the window, straining to see past the driven snow, staring to see some form of movement that wasn't the wind or the soft flakes as they whirled by.  
  
"Did someone cover that window?"  
  
"The butler."  
  
"Yeah, but they're probably going to have to wait until the glass can get replaced."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Desperate small talk. Anything to break the silence and keep their minds off what could happen, what might happen, what might had already happened. It failed miserably.  
  
Five minutes passed. Five long, agonizing minutes where each second was an hour and the minutes themselves were days.  
  
"Hey... did you see that?"  
  
"It's probably just the snow again."  
  
"Mayb- wait... Wait! It's there again!"  
  
"You're hallucinating."  
  
"No! It's there! I see him! I see him!"  
  
Wufei frowned as he tried to see out the window. "Dammit, Maxwell, I told you, you're-"  
  
"There! Right there!" the self-proclaimed "Shinigami" yelled. He ran, and threw open the door. "HEEY! HEEEY!!"  
  
The figure in the blizzard looked up.  
  
Duo ran out to give Heero what he believed a well-deserved punch. "You idiot! What the hell were you thinking?!"  
  
"Get back in the house. You don't have a coat on," the Japanese replied, shielding his burden and taking the punch in the side.  
  
Studying his friend a little closer as he walked alongside him, Duo suddenly noticed something. "You're bleeding!? How did that happen?!?!"  
  
"I'm not the one bleeding."  
  
They finally reached the door.  
  
"You found her?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Heero gently passed her body to Duo to hold, then took off his coat and shut the door.  
  
The American had a vague look on his face as he stared at the girl's own. "Y'know, it's almost funny."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Some of the most dangerous people... they look so innocent when they're sleeping. You could never tell that they had killed others, and had convinced themselves it was for a greater cause."  
  
"... And she's one of them?"  
  
"Probably..."  
  
Trowa was examining the gashes on her back. "This isn't so bad... we can handle this here."  
  
"Look at the arm, then the side."  
  
Motioning for Duo to put her down, the tall brunette noticed immediately the problems with the areas that Heero had told him to check. Brilliant emerald green eyes glanced almost emotionlessly out the window. "An ambulance won't make it out here..."  
  
"Besides, she hasn't woken up yet. Concussion? Coma? Or just she's already dead, but her heart and lungs are still working?"  
  
"We can try... but the ambulance could crash, with or without her in it..."  
  
"Causing more death."  
  
All four's eyes met. There was an unspoken agreement in them. Green, black, Prussian blue, and violet all knew that they would do anything to prevent more death. They had already caused so much. There would be no more.  
  
"So..."  
  
"What are we going to do?"  
  
- - - - - - - - - -  
  
[1] The bracelet is one that I bought at a retreat with my youth group. The directions were that once you had led someone to Christ, you gave them the bracelet and they would go to the website on the back. They would go on the website, and register themselves as the new owner of the bracelet, and you could track where it went by going on the website and looking it up. Unfortunately, I lost it... ;_;. *crycry*  
  
[2] This is derived from something in The Pearl of the Soul of the World by Meredith Ann Pierce. Cheesy name, I know, but it is a good book, and an awesome series. The lorelei, which is trying to destroy the world, has made 7 darkangel "sons", or vampires, to overthrow the guardians of the cities. The last one is incomplete, however, and a girl saves him from his fate. Scars from the lorelei's training do remain, and one of the scenes is a flashback in which the lorelei pulls the young Irrylath's head back, and whispers, "Yes, love. You will." Anyway, I don't own that.  
  
Author's Note- My notes seem to be spreading themselves out amongst the footnotes. I'm just very happy that I got so much done. I finished three chapters in one day! One chapter is for Assassin's Silver, though, so I'm not sure it that really counts... o.O;;... oh well! ^__^ Ja! 


	3. Follow Your Heart rewrite, chapter 3

Follow Your Heart rewrite:  
chapter three  
by YamiHikari  
  
Disclaimer- I already stated that I do not own Gundam Wing nor its characters, but the original character Tajima Ryuka is original, but inspired by many others. Still, if no one was inspired by anyone else, nothing would happen. ^_^;;  
  
Author's Note- Good grief, I have about... 5 stories that I'm working on, two of them fanfics, and more ideas for fanfics that I should really start, and an idea or two more for original. And my brother just interrupted me to ask where the walkie-talkies are... -_-;; Brothers...  
  
- - - - - - - - - -  
  
Duo was trying to pry the armor open. He'd tried multiple screwdrivers, a crowbar, a fairly low-tech rock, a lock pick, and –desperate and slightly loony by that point- was now seeing if it really was possible to get a real laser beam from a laser pointer with enough mirrors so he could just cut through it.  
  
He swore. A mirror had just fallen and cracked. The girl's back had already been disinfected and wrapped, but everything else was just impossible to do. They had left the arm alone, since any tampering with it might just make it worse, and they didn't even want to think of what would happen if they did something to the rib cage, which was why she was on her back rather than the front, even if the back was torn up and most likely sore. (Actually, 100% likely that it was sore.) The blizzard still hadn't died down, quite the contrary in fact. It had gotten worse.  
  
"You could help, you know," the braided ex-pilot grumbled reproachfully to the Japanese sitting near her, making sure she still breathed.  
  
"Then move. I can't help if you're in the way."  
  
Still mumbling something, Duo moved. As his blue-eyed companion thoughtfully ran his fingers over the armor, he frowned slightly. "There's no dents or scratches..."  
  
"Yah. Really strong metal. I think I tried the can opener at one point, but that didn't work either."  
  
The half-joke didn't elicit a laugh from Heero. As he felt underneath them, one fingertip brushed against something in the metal. He nudged it, then swung the small latch on the inside of the armor out. It separated with a faint 'click'.  
  
"Maybe you should have looked underneath first instead of trying to bash it open."  
  
After gently feeling her arm for the edges of the bone, he placed both hands on the two sides of the break, pulled them away from each other, then twisted. When he had let go, it didn't look so horribly wrong.  
  
Wordlessly, Duo offered him the materials for the splint. After they had wrapped it tightly with small wooden rods and strips of cloth, the American sighed. "Nothing we can do but sit this storm out. Of all the times..."  
  
He found he was talking to the air. "Hey, Heero? This isn't funny, c'mon, where'd you go?"  
  
After calling and searching as far as he dared –getting lost in the Winner's mansion was _not_ as fun as it may have seemed and he couldn't just leave the girl alone- he sulked while sitting on the carpet next to their charge.  
  
Five minutes later, his former companion reappeared carrying something he still couldn't quite make out. A couple steps closer, and it was soon apparent that it was a blanket. When he had drawn close enough, he unfolded his burden and spread it over the still form on the floor.  
  
"She was out there for a long time, so..." He shrugged.  
  
"Hmph. And nothing for me, I notice." The violet-eyed pilot stood and stretched. "I'm going to get something to eat. You?"  
  
"Doesn't matter."  
  
After Duo had left, Heero watched the snowflakes whirl past, driven by the vicious winds. He wondered how long it would last, and how much longer she could hold on.  
  
~  
  
Tajima was warm and safe, and felt it even deep within unconsciousness. She dreamed no dreams, and felt the long process of healing begin.  
  
~  
  
The self-proclaimed "God of Death" paused when he entered the room again, a sandwich in either hand. Knees drawn up to just a foot away from his chest, arms circled around them, hands loosely clasped and head bowed, Heero Yuy's breaths came evenly, but not quite as slowly as they would have had he been asleep.  
  
Duo approached him quietly and waited until the Prussian blue eyes opened and the hands separated and the legs unbent and the head came back up until offering him the turkey sandwich in his right hand. "Hungry?"  
  
Heero stared at the combination of bread, turkey, lettuce, and –knowing Maxwell- Lord knew what else that was currently filling his field of vision, slightly disoriented. Then his eyes cleared, and he took the proffered foodstuff.  
  
After he'd taken a cautious bite out of it –no explosions... that particular event was still rather memorable...- chewed, swallowed, taken another bite, Duo was checking his watch. "Whoops, our shift ends in ten minutes. Probably shouldn't've gotten these, eh?"  
  
He waved his partially eaten snack for emphasis.  
  
"Yours."  
  
"Wha?"  
  
"Your shift ends in ten minutes. I'm not tired."  
  
"Uh-uh," Duo admonished, now brandishing the half-consumed sandwich accusingly. "Even _you_ have to sleep. If I have to drug you to do it, I will."  
  
The word "drug" made the former pilot of Wing Zero pause right before taking a third bite and stare at the sandwich suspiciously. Without another word, he laid it down, and resumed his unceasing vigilante.  
  
Duo crammed the last bite into his mouth, chewed furiously for a moment and swallowed. There was an audible 'gulp' as he did so. With a hand, he beckoned. "If you're not gonna eat that, give it to me. I swear it's clean."  
  
When the barely touched edible was pressed into his hand, he shrugged. "Whatever. Starve yourself to death, then."  
  
Without further ado, he started from the other side of the sandwich and devoured it ravenously.  
  
Nine more minutes passed in silence, then Duo yawned, got up, and shambled off to wake either Trowa or Wufei and go to sleep.  
  
~  
  
When the European of the emerald eyes[1] arrived quietly in the room just inside the entryway, a ghost of a smile passed over his features. He opened the closet, took out a spare jacket, and draped it over the sleeping form of pilot-01.  
  
- - - - - - - - - -  
  
[1]- I dunno, doesn't that remind you of the "Lost Years of Merlin" quintet by T.A. Barron, like Elen of the Sapphire eyes? I just suddenly thought of that when I was typing...  
  
YamiHikari's Note- Now I'm listening to Dido... short chapter, eh? Just felt like it. Hm... have an overwhelming urge to draw now... either that, or sleep, I'm _really_ tired... too much schoolwork! All our projects are in March! It's not faaaaaiiir! I swear they're doing it deliberately, to laugh at our pain... okay, enough of me whining. In an act of shameless advertising, I think I shall try yammer about this in Assassin's Silver... daaang, g2g out to dinner... parents... Ja! 


	4. Follow Your Heart rewrite, chapter 4

Follow Your Heart:  
chapter four  
by YamiHikari  
  
Disclaimer- I DON'T OWN GUNDAM WING!! GET THAT THROUGH YOUR THICK HEADS!! Stupid lawyers...  
  
YamiHikari's Note- Hehe, listening to 'So Far Away' by Staind. Does anyone else just think 'Heero' when they hear that song? Yeah... don't you hate it when you get these really awesome ideas [this is the smile/That I've never shown before] yep, definitely Heero. Anyway, continuing on my sentence before I interrupted with part of the lyrics, is that don't you just hate it when you come up with really nice music videos for a song... and you know you can't do it, because you don't have an animation studio OR the skills OR the money!!! AHH! TOO MANY IDEAS INSIDE MY LITTLE HEAD!! It'll explode someday, I swear... -_-;; anyone who reads these, thank you SO SO SO much for putting up with my little rants and random insanity. It's people like you who keep me going, so... if you read this, and don't review... I'll cry... because I feel so neglected... boohoo... (jk, don't review unless you want to. ^_^ it's a free country, kinda)  
  
- - - - - - - - - -  
  
Heero woke when the light shining in his eyes became too much to bear, even in his dream-state. The jacket flopped off of him, and he rubbed his eyes and tried to remember the dream he'd had. It was an answer to some question asked and unanswered before. Something about mirrors and gray and isolation and sorrow. He couldn't remember any more.  
  
"Geez, I don't even have to drug a sandwich, you just conk out by yourself!" Violet eyes glinted with laughter, reflecting the mood of their owner. "Wu-man's still sleeping, but he said you were sleeptalking... or mumbling's more like it. Whatever you did, you stopped before I came down, so I wouldn't know."  
  
Sitting with his face to the sun, Heero pondered this for a moment, then something occurred to him. He suddenly turned, over-balanced, and nearly fell. "The storm stopped- where'd she go?!"  
  
Duo laughed outright at this, so infuriatingly calm and assured. "We already called while you were sleeping, as soon as the storm let up. Trowa went with them to answer some questions; they won't be able to tell if he's lying or not. That man has the best damn poker face I've ever seen."  
  
"Oh." Feeling ever so slightly foolish, Heero resumed his former position, the bracelet on his right wrist jingling faintly. Wait... He turned again, but slower this time, and remained upright. "What about Quatre?"  
  
A faint wisp of a cloud passed over the sun, darkening the sun and Duo's face. "They said he's unconscious, just like her. It's a coma, but they don't know _why_. It's really screwing with their heads. I've been trying to figure it out ever since we got the news, but I still can't, other than the fact that it must be something on these." He held out the metal guard for the forearm.  
  
"The blades in them have got to have something to do with it."  
  
Heero reached behind him and took the object in his hand. After bringing it back around to his face, he examined it. The American continued. "I still can't see how she gets the blade out..."  
  
Without replying, his companion put the guard over his own arm, adjusting it slightly to fit the image in his mind of how the girl had worn it. The metal band that went across his palm was cold to his touch at first, then as the minutes passed, warmed. The question 'How? How? How?' nagged at him. What had she done, or been doing while the blade was out.  
  
He clenched his hand into a fist in frustration and with a quiet 'shnk', the lethal blade slipped out. In surprise, his hand relaxed and unclenched, and it slide back in. Duo was mumbling something.  
  
"What?"  
  
"First you go out and find her while it's snowing, then you come forging back through the forest in the middle of a friggin' BLIZZARD, and _THEN_ you somehow figure out how that thing works. HOW THE HELL DO YOU DO IT!?" he demanded.  
  
With a small half-smile on his face, Heero shrugged, knowing Duo could see the gesture. There was some more mumbling behind him, but he was pretty sure he didn't want to hear what it was. Nothing he could do now but wait and hope and pray. He relaxed.  
  
~  
  
Now there were dreams... or were they really visions? Or perhaps some hallucinations created by her delirious mind? Whatever it was, there was one lone figure walking unsteadily towards her, and when she could make out some features, but not all, it seemed almost painfully familiar.  
  
She waited until it had come close enough that she could see its face. It was just that person... the blond one. He smiled wearily when he saw her.  
  
"Hey. Do you know where this all," he motioned around him to the environment surrounding them, "is? I mean, I've been walking around for, oh, it seems like hours, but I'm still not quite sure where it is. Do you know? Do you know how to get out?"  
  
Tajima shook her head. No. No, she didn't know where this was. If she was, she'd have left, long ago.  
  
But he didn't look disappointed. In fact, his expression still didn't change, even at that news. He still gave her that same drained smile, then added, "Since you're here, we could just travel together. I mean, two heads are better than one, right?"  
  
"Two heads are worth nothing if they're not attached to anything else," she replied. Then she started walking away into the endless sands.  
  
He followed after, not really in need of a direction, but of company. "What's your name anyway? You never told us."  
  
"If I didn't tell you then, why should I now?"  
  
"We're in the same predicament, aren't we? We should at least know each other's name. Let's do this together[1]."  
  
"Tajima, then. Tajima Ryuka."  
  
"Ah. I'm Quatre. Quatre Winner[2]."  
  
They walked on in silence for what seemed days upon days, though it probably couldn't have been. They never rested.  
  
"What is this place?"  
  
"Don't ask me. I don't know."  
  
The scenery still didn't change. Quatre ventured another question. "How long do you think we'll be here?"  
  
"... I don't know that either..."  
  
There was no end to the blindingly bright sand.  
  
~  
  
"She's one of Duo's friends from another colony; just came down a couple days ago," Trowa lied while still looking relaxed and almost bored.  
  
"Do you think he'd mind if we asked him what her name was and where she's from?" The cop's sweet tone and fake, meant-to-be reassuring smile sickened him. If you're going to do something, do it _right_. And- oh damn. Maxwell was one of the worst liars he knew, if not the worst. Damn, damn, _damn_.  
  
"I think it would bother someone if they were asked trivial things about a close friend when they're not sure if their friend is going to die or not," he said blandly, with a carefully measured undertone of "you- callous-insensitive-monster".  
  
The middle-aged female cop didn't wince. Trowa gave her that much credit. Unfortunately for him, the wince that wasn't there could mean that it was going to be bad. Maybe very bad. He'd have to be careful.  
  
"Well, Mr. Barton, I'm should think that Mr. Maxwell would be eager to assist in something that would help us get more information on her and perhaps we could help her better with the information."  
  
"I see. Is this the start of some sort of new therapy, calling the name of someone who's in a coma until they wake up? It seems rather idiotic to me." Open war had been declared.  
  
She refused to acknowledge his challenge and insult. "No, just..."  
  
Aha. She was stuck and she knew it. The cop couldn't very well just say out loud that they just plain wanted to know. Maybe it was time to end this.  
  
"Do you have any further questions for me?"  
  
"No. You're free to go."  
  
He noted the use of the term often said to prisoners when they were bailed out or had served their sentence. Still, he left.  
  
~  
  
"We don't understand it ourselves," the receptionist explained patiently when queried again for the cause of Quatre being in a coma as well. "But the heartbeats are almost exactly the same, and it's just...  
  
"It's strange," she concluded. "And like I said, we don't understand it either," she added, about to be asked again by Duo, who shut his mouth and looked faintly sheepish.  
  
"We're allowed to see them, right?"  
  
The receptionist seemed slightly startled. "Oh, yes, of course. You have an hour until visiting time ends."  
  
Heero inclined his head to her briefly. "Thank you."  
  
Then they were gone, just like that. She blinked, then went back to answering calls and telling more people directions.  
  
~  
  
Finally, they had stumbled into another area. However, rather than being blindly bright and hot, it was gray, murky, cold, and dismal.  
  
"I think I liked the desert better," Quatre said mournfully. He turned to go back, then stopped as he saw that there was no desert behind them, but more swamp. Taking a shuddering breath, he turned back. Already the place was sapping at what spirit and energy that they had left the desert with.  
  
Tajima went on with a grim determination; the fading hope that if she walked far enough, she'd get out. Already, she wanted to stop, to let feelings overcome her, and call to see if anyone could hear her. Behind her, she heard Quatre follow, then mumble something as his left foot went with a 'squelch' into a small pond well-disguised by the dull green junk growing on the top.  
  
He yanked his foot out – the pond surrendered it with a disgusted 'blorp'- and trudged after. She waited for him, then continued onward. An unspoken agreement was formed: that they would stay together through this place and keep each other from harm as best they could.  
  
~  
  
"You have the sappiest expression on your face right now, I'll have you know."  
  
"... Omae o korosu."  
  
"Oooh! Big scary death threat! I'm so frightened. Wu-man, save me from the big scary "Perfect Soldier"!"  
  
"Actually, he has a point. You do have a..."  
  
"I do not."  
  
"Yes, you do."  
  
"OH! See, even TROWA agrees with me, and you know the man never talks! You can't deny it." Without waiting for a reply, Duo danced about chanting a childish rhyme about sitting in trees, with some modifications.  
  
"Shut UP, Maxwell. You're making me feel ill..."  
  
"Come on, artistic license! Don't tell me they don't have that in China, China-man."  
  
"If you call me one more idiotic name..."  
  
"'If you call me one more idiotic name'," mocked Duo, "'then I'll have to turn into a big scary dragon and BITE YOUR HEAD OFF!'"  
  
"Now he's messing with Nataku. Kill him for me, will you?"  
  
"MAXWELL!"  
  
"AAAGH!! THAT'S NOT FAIR! FIGHT YOUR OWN BATTLES, YOU COWARD!! YOU CAN'T JUST TELL SOMEONE ELSE TO FIGHT FOR YOU!"  
  
"I just did."  
  
"But- NO! NOT THE BRAID! TOUCH THE BRAID, AND YOU D- GACK!"  
  
Five minutes later, they had finally settled down. Well, Duo had toned it down, but he still hadn't shut up.  
  
As they sat around doing nothing but watch the two seemingly lifeless forms, the American – who hadn't suffered any hurt to his braid, but some to his neck – suddenly spoke up.  
  
"Did you know that in the original version of 'Sleeping Beauty', the prince really just rapes the girl and when she gives birth to twin boys, it's only when one of them crawls up and sucks the poison needle from her finger that she wakes up[3]?"  
  
More silence greeted this remark. Then, "What did that have to do with anything?"  
  
This time it was Duo that was silent, leaving everyone else to work it out for themselves.  
  
"You... I can't find words for this being..."  
  
"Ecchi."  
  
There was the scrape of chair legs against floor. Trowa had quit the room.  
  
"Haha, one down, two more to go."  
  
"What exactly is on your mind, Maxwell?"  
  
More silence.  
  
"Ugh..." Wufei followed.  
  
After the sounds of footsteps had faded away, Duo grinned slightly, and gestured towards the prone form between them. "You want a go? I won't stop you."  
  
"You're joking, right?"  
  
"Actually..."  
  
Heero waited.  
  
"Yes. Except about the legend. I'm pretty sure it was the original..."  
  
"Hnh. And how would you know this?"  
  
"It was in a Sandman."  
  
The Japanese teen gave the friend sitting across from him a disbelieving look. "You get your information from comic books."  
  
"Hey, this stuff's actually got meaning." He raised his right hand solemnly. "I swear."  
  
"Right."  
  
"Honest! I'm not joking!"  
  
"Okay..."  
  
"REALLY!"  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
"Tch. No one believes me!"  
  
"Maybe if you wouldn't say such stupid things..."  
  
"Hell no. Give me the right to say stupid things or GIVE ME DEATH!" He swung back in his chair, tipping up on two legs, then slammed it back down for emphasis.  
  
It was at this point a nurse came in with a big fake smile and informed them that visiting hours were over, though they had only been in there for 10 minutes, tops.  
  
On their way down to the lobby, where they should meet Trowa and Wufei, Duo suddenly grinned again, struck by an idea for more mischief.  
  
"Betcha that if we pretend I wasn't joking, they'll buy it. I would laugh so hard..."  
  
"No."  
  
"Come _on_."  
  
"No."  
  
"Pleaase?"  
  
"_No_."  
  
"You suck."  
  
"Same to you."  
  
The braided one thought this over, then groaned. "You're as bad as me sometimes."  
  
"It's all in your mind."  
  
"Yeah right."  
  
"See, I'm right."  
  
"Just shut up."  
  
Suddenly, an expression similar to the one that Duo had had earlier when being ecchi stole over Heero's features. He projected his voice to the two others waiting in the lobby by the door. "Hey, guess what Duo di-"  
  
"SHUT UP!"  
  
- - - - - - - - - -  
  
[1]- This is a quote, Quatre said this before to Trowa in their first attack on an OZ base.  
  
[2]- Just goes to show how conscientious Quatre can be of other people's feelings. He didn't add his middle name since Tajima didn't have a middle name, and this way he didn't, in a sense, rub it in her face that he had a middle name. Even if it wouldn't have offended her, he still took the chance that it might have.  
  
[3]- Yes, this WAS in a book of Sandman. I don't know, I think my friend is rubbing off on me... @_@;;  
  
YamiHikari's Note- Well, that certainly ended on a light note. Eheheh... now I have nothing to say... except that I want to draw... my friend suggested an entire series of assassins –they are MAD COOL! Sry- and I think I might do something like it. Ah, to work, to work... it's funny... For a couple days, I was just having writer's block and then it just all came together. Hm... ah well, ja! 


	5. Follow Your Heart rewrite, chapter 5

1Follow Your Heart:

chapter 5

by YamiHikari

Disclaimer- Again, yet AGAIN, I do not own Gundam Wing nor its characters. Now get the lawyers away from me! 

YamiHikari's Note- Bit of insignificant news. I ate two spoons of sweet and sour sauce at a Chinese restaurant for $20, which I promptly spent at the mall on the 5th volume of Jing and the 6th volume of Demon Diary, which I still have yet to get the 5th of... --;;

It didn't taste very good... And I have, like, twenty different injuries on my hands. (More like four, but still, two of'em are deep. One was friggin' spewin' blood all over the place!) Oh, the pain... Again, anyone and everyone who reads this, thank you SO much for actually paying attention... not that very many people do... sigh

- - - - - - - - - -

The next few weeks seemed to have a monotone to them. It seemed to always be the same, and the hopelessness of the situation was taking its toll. Violet eyes no longer gleamed with laughter. Appearances by Trowa at the dinner table grew rarer, and rarer, and eventually stopped altogether. Wufei and his practice swords haunted large empty rooms where only a few chosen cleaners trod. And a wall over one lost one's feelings which had been coming down came back up again with startling speed and force.

On one of those days, Heero stopped after having seen a passing glimpse of himself in the mirror, and took another look. "So that's where..." he said softly, the barrier crumbling again just a tiny bit.

The near emotionless blue eyes looking back at him gave him the answer to the question, which had kept him up for many long, sleepless nights. The girl's eyes were his own. Different color, yes, but the expressions were the same. The coldness, the mask, the burden carried deep within where no one else could see, yes, that was all the same.

He finally closed his eyes, turned away, and then wondered if anyone else had noticed.

"Dammit... it's still not closing up," one man in a white coat muttered.

"We've already tried everything, haven't we? Oh God... at least it isn't bleeding as badly as it was before."

Sally Po rested her chin on her entwined hands. "Notice also that our mystery patient's broken arm is also not healing. No doubt it's mere coincidence, but it's still interesting. And it's the same side as well. Could there be a connection?"

A few murmurs circulated at this remark, most of which denounced the idea as just an overactive imagination, and was Dr. Po feeling all right? Was she absolutely sure she was fine?

The conference over this medical conundrum went on, without any more mention of ridiculous ideas like some "magical" connection between two completely different people. Ha! Ha ha ha! Just coincidence.

"Close your eyes... they'll go away, I..." Tajima paused for a moment while sheltering Quatre from the grasp of the rotting and already rotted corpses around them. "I promise."

She jerked forward, then regained her balance as the blond dropped suddenly to his knees, still holding onto her bare arm. Doubling over, he was suddenly, violently sick. Rising shakily to his feet and wiping his mouth, Quatre attempted a feeble grin.

"I d... I didn't know we could do that in dreams... ...this IS a dream, right?"

The clacking of jaws, the grind of vertebrae against vertebrae, the faint shred of remnants of flesh and skin, the hollow exhalations of those still with lungs, it filled their ears, coated their souls in lead, and they had to stop more than once. Empty eye sockets gaping, bare teeth grinning, gray hands or bones reaching, the dead haunted them and their numbers stretched from horizon to horizon.

After a while, Quatre managed, "'s my fault. Most of'em are. I... killed'em all...1 Entire colonies..."

Catching the glimpse of bared fangs, elongated canines, Tajima grimaced slightly. "A lot of these are mine."

One of these reached out to her and nearly contacted until her foot snapped out and kicked it back. "Goddammit, you're DEAD! STAY THAT WAY!" she shouted, voice almost, not quite, riding above the sounds of the moving dead.

They drew back, silence spreading through the noise of the rustle and crunch of their decaying bodies, the empty, soulless shells. Beside her, Quatre started to say something, then stopped, and said nothing for a while. They walked on, two tiny, minuscule specks of life in that gruesome ocean of death.

"Why the hell do we even bother to come anyway? It just gets depressing to be in a hospital day after day after day after day." Duo sighed. He glanced around him at the blandly white walls of the room. "God. I can't even tell if I'm in a hospital or an insane asylum. Then again, WHAT'S THE FRICKIN' DIFFERENCE?!" he demanded of the world at large.

"Maxwell, shut the hell up." Wufei was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, eyes closed. "You're giving me a headache."

The long weeks of hope slowly being worn away to close to nothing had had a profound effect on the usually cheerful, happy-go-lucky pilot. Duo's nerves finally snapped. "YOU have a headache!? ME shut the hell up?! HELL NO! I'LL SHOW YOU SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU F- AAGH!"

Hand clenched tightly around the American's fist, Heero said softly, "Get a grip." He released the fist, which was promptly drawn back to be inspected to make sure nothing was broken.

Massaging his abused hand, Duo glared. "Bastard."

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Oh shit." Quatre repeated the words as he tightly shut his eyes and tried to pretend that nothing was happening. His hands were slipping.

Tajima said nothing, only slipping her feet into better holds and letting those support her weight rather than the flimsy branch protruding, against all laws of probability, from the rock. After making their way through the seemingly endless mass of the dead, their efforts had been now marked off as a complete and total waste of time and energy. The ground itself had turned against them. All that was left now was for them to give up and fall, and then the crevasse would close and the earth would reclaim them as its own.

Her gray eyes focused on some point beyond the rock directly in front of them, and she simply focused on holding on. It shifted, and became an all-too familiar face. Eyes widened as pupils contracted in hatred.

"YOU FUCKER!"

She had completed Duo's unfinished oath that had been almost said just minutes before.

Quatre's blond head snapped up and turned to look back at Tajima as a bare hand slammed into the sandstone surface she had previously been gazing past. She swore again as it instantly redrew and she was forced to use one arm to do the work of two.

"Who..." he trailed off. Face contorted in hatred, rage, and the faintest hint of, surprising as it was, fear, Tajima was still glowering at the rock wall. Her lips curled back from her teeth in an expression reminiscent of some feral being.

She quickly regained control and the emotionless, impenetrable mask slipped back on. Looking down at the fourth pilot, she said blandly, "Try to find something that can support your weight. If you can do that and hang on for long enough without me, I might be able to find a way out of here."

Mute, Quatre nodded, then cautiously probed at the surface of the rock for any possible handholds. As soon as they had been found, he gripped them as if his life depended on it, which, for all they knew, it did.

"Do they feel loose at all?"

"No."

"Then stay there." Clenching and unclenching her right hand to be sure it still worked, Tajima shifted her weight and placed one foot on a hold at about knee level before reaching up with another hand to grasp a spur of hopefully solid rock. The process was repeated and began to achieve some sort of rhythm as she navigated the wall.

Partway up, so close to the top, and yet just far away enough that she could not simply haul herself up, her hands began to slip. The distance might as well have been in miles, and she didn't dare loose one hand to wipe it off for the fear and near certainty that the other would quickly lose its grip. A lose-lose situation.

Tajima's mind raced. Unbidden came the memory of the cloying smell of blood and the rush of misplaced air by mismatched wings.

"-Save me.-

-Save me and I will save you.-"

The reply had been a promise as much as it was a plea. But if she died right here and now, could the being than be saved? Did it not have to save her to be rescued itself?

She threw her head back and screamed out, "Liar!" to the uncaring clouded sky above her and let go.

In the car, Heero winced.

"Eh, what's your problem?" Duo still hadn't quite forgiven him.

"Turn around."

"Say what?!"

"I said turn around."

"Look, we know you're concerned, bu-"

"NOW." The tone held little to no room for argument.

Wonder of wonders, Duo had been allowed to drive. He stalled briefly, apparently debating whether to keep going out of spite or to yield and return to the hospital. After a moment, he shrugged. "You're the boss."

He began to turn, not bothering to slow down from the 50 mph clip that he'd been going along the nearly deserted at.

"Maxwell, you idiot, look out for th-"

There was the squeal of an emergency brake on the pavement and the sickening crunch and screech of shattering metal and the scraping of jagged edges against the painted surfaces of the vehicles. A body slammed into the windshield and bare milliseconds later, a fine, white network of cracks materialized on the surfaces before they burst away in a formation of glittering shards.

The last thought of the victim before darkness claimed him, after most of his life being trained for warfare and success, was very nearly automatic, though he would have wished it otherwise, was one word. 'Mission...'

As the shadows swallowed him, the thought remained incomplete. The chaos that would follow the head-on collision would be unknown to him until he regained consciousness.

If he ever did.

"No, NO!" Batting away the doctors swarming around him, trying to pull him away, Duo continued running along the side of the gurney that was bearing Heero away. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I was just kidding! Really!

I know you're faking! C'mon, man, open your eyes! Not even a death threat? 'Omae o korosu'? Please?!" The former pilot's voice cracked and he tripped, just barely managing to avoid landing face-first on the clean linoleum tiles. The doctors rushed past.

Slowly getting to his feet, Duo yelled, "YOU HEARTLESS BASTARD! YOU'D BETTER FUCKING DIE, OR I'M GONNA KILL YOU MYSELF, MR. I'M-TOO-FUCKING-GOOD-TO-WEAR-A-FUCKING-SEATBELT!"

A nurse in the hallway looked pained. "Please, sir, we have patients trying to sleep."

"I'm very sorry. I'll take care of this." Trowa stepped forward; he had to bend down slightly to meet Duo's eyes.

They gleamed malevolently back as he whispered, "What do you want, you fucker? Come to preach at me about screaming in hospitals and wishing people dead?"

"Am I the one who does things like that nowadays?"

"No. H- ..." The American stopped short, gazing at Trowa through narrowed violet eyes. He smiled.

Then he punched the taller colonist square in the jaw. Straightening, he cracked his knuckles."Nice try."

He got no response for that statement. Instead, a fleeting smile passed over Trowa's normally staid features, there and gone so quickly that almost one thought that it had never been. When he next spoke, his voice was soft, convincing, believable.

"If you really wanted him dead, you'd find a way, wouldn't you, pilot? Really, we're assassins, now aren't we? Trained to sneak in and kill as many as we can, and maybe even go down killing more? Sure the war's over; but it doesn't mean you have to stop killing, now does it?"

Duo visibly recoiled; he recovered quickly, however, and Trowa found himself pinned against the hallway wall as the shorter male hissed, "If you even so much as think about giving him a papercut, I swear that I will tear your throat out and leave you for the wolves."

The European gazed mildly back at him for a moment, then heaved a sigh, removing Duo's hands from the front of his shirt. "That's good. I was beginning to worry that you really did want him to die."

Momentarily struck dumb by this statement, Duo gaped. Reaching up, Trowa lightly inspected the already forming bruise on his jaw line.

"I seem to have missed my true calling as a punching bag," he commented dryly, ignoring the alarms that had gone off for no apparent reason sometime before. "What do we do now?"

Dropping headfirst into the chasm, Tajima thought she heard Quatre shouting something as she fell past. She didn't listen. Shutting her eyes, she did not see the blond releasing his hold and following.

Seconds dragged by, and she never saw the approaching light. Instead she heard a startled cry that was cut off, and then felt the radiance approaching. Now, the sensation of being lifted and held. Opening her eyes, she found that she was being cradled against the chest of the being who had delivered her before.

-Please...-

The voice was no more than a whisper as the light claimed her.

Tajima jerked upwards into a sitting position in an unfamiliar room. There was a mask over her face and a needle in her arm, and she didn't know what else arrayed on various points upon her arm. Irritably, she yanked them off and the needle out, kicking the machine that went ballistic when she had done so. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Quatre do the same, except he didn't try to break the metal box that instantly began emitting the high-pitched, unending beep when something was removed.

Covering the distance towards the door on unsteady legs that hadn't been used for weeks, she cursed, stretched them out slightly, then yanked the door open and darted down the hallway. Occasionally she had to dodge some people in the hallway, but that was fine. What was not fine was the fact that instead of annoying metal boxes, it was now lights in the hallway flashing and shrieking.

Clearing the last set of stairs by simply vaulting over the railing - and nearly falling over when she landed, a rather unwelcome development - Tajima slowed, then glanced around. There was some shouting in another direction; a male's voice, but neither very old nor very tall.

She strode over and arrived just as the tallest one had finished speaking. The two others - the braided one and the arrogant one - noticed her before he did. One was missing.

"Where is the other?" she demanded.

The tallest finally turned. His tone instantly became icy. "I could ask the same of you."

"No! Really! I'm fine! Let go! I need to do something!"

Without glancing back, Tajima asked, "Good enough for you? Where?"

"Quatre?!" His face flickered to surprise from hostility. He stepped around her as she resisted the urge to trip him out of vexation.

"Where?" she said again, for the third and what she hoped would be the last time.

"Why would you want to know?" This time, it was the braided one. "You could just want to get rid of him."

Now thoroughly annoyed, Tajima snarled back, "Does it look like I could kill someone right now?!" With the one-handed gesture, she managed to take in the whole of her situation: weaponless, still somewhat unused to being up and about, and with a broken right arm contained in a sling.

Never mind then. If they were here, then the other should be somewhere up ahead. She shoved past them and through the doors that led into ER. Doctors and surgeons appeared to try and keep her out, but she managed to get by, slipping under the arm of one, tripping another to create a Domino effect where a couple fell one after the other.

"... You know, I think she could, actually," Duo remarked.

Wufei said nothing, quite possibly still smarting from the fact that she'd made him helpless so quickly and easily before. He found himself being dragged along down the hall at a rather fast pace.

"If she can still bring down a buncha them people in their surgical dresses or whatevers, I don't want to think of what she can do to one invalid, okay? Okay. Hurry up!"

Duo started running. Wufei started protesting.

Leaden limbs1 refusing to obey, darkness he felt rather than saw surrounded him, and free-fall was the only sensation he really comprehended. The rest remained nameless, though he had known them before; a veil obscured the rest of his senses.

The last thing he remembered was a pang of regret. He'd had so much he'd wanted to do...

- - - - - - - - - -

1- this was actually derived from a line of a poem I wrote once. It was a villanelle, to be specific. I still have it somewhere, but I don't especially feel like looking...

YamiHikari's Note- Gah, that took a while. I mean, I started this one sometime in... March, February even! The cuts I got are long healed over and I'm now starting on the second series of Jing, not to mention I'm now in a different grade. Then again, that's rather obvious? --;; oh yeah, I got an account on deviantART. Here's a link if'n anyone's interested: 


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